Monday, December 17, 2012

What We Talk About When the Family Visits

My parents and brother, Young Jeezy were here this week, the former for the weekend, the latter for an entire week of board games and non-stop lightning round of entertainment and historical trivia. I made a very successful spatchcocked turkey on the grill, using the Mark Bittman recipe, augmented by a morning of brining. The bird turned out unusually moist, although it took more like 2 hours for me to get the temperature of the breast up to 165 degrees. Whether this was because of the size of my turkey (big) or the heat of the fire, I don't know, although I suspect the former. Nevertheless is was among the finest I've eaten.

This morning as Jeezy was checking his Ipad he commented on the desultory quality of his recent Internet searches. I married his with mine to give a flavor of our visit. The Internet is so much better than our former dispute resolution source--an out-of-date set of encyclopedias in the living room cabinet:

Was Jenga a traditional game somwhere? (No. invented in 1978)

What was in Uncle Jim's famous tomato butter? (Not sure, but we suspect brown sugar and vinegar or lemon juice).

Where did Robert Graves end up living out his days? (Majorca)

What was Cato's deal? (Staunch republican, Caesar opponent, played by Christopher Walken in a 2002 miniseries).

Where is Easter Island and to whom does it belong? (South Pacific. Chile)